Mike you didn’t ask your good friend Westy?
Are you looking for a balls to the wall sports car, or something like a sportier sedan? There’s a big difference.
My old SRT-4 (same thing Adam drives now, but mine had work done to it) was out-running corvettes at the track, cost 10k. But its very impractical as a daily driver. Awful gas mileage, bumpy, not a ton of space, loud, lots of maintenance work required. You could get similar cars in that price range (350z, miata, RX8, Mustang, camaro, charger SRT…. all used mind you) but they’ll all have similar issues.
If you’re looking for like a sportier sedan, get a used BMW or Audi, maybe an Acura… I think the Mazda-6’s are nice (older ones more so than newer ones).